Sacra Corona Unita

Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) is a Mafia-type criminal organization which is active in the Lecce, Brindisi, and Taranto areas of Apulia, Italy. It is named for the "sacred" baptism of its members into the gang, the rosary "crown" used in processions, and the "unity" of its members. The organization was formed by on 25 December 1983, when several imprisoned Camorra and Ndrangheta members gathered at Giuseppe Rogoli's prison cell and initiated and sanctioned him as the head of a new criminal organization which, with the support of the Ndrangheta, would set itself up as Apulia's crime syndicate. Its main sources of income were drug trafficking, prostitution, arms trafficking, and extortion, and it came to have 50 clans and 2,000 members. The organization imported cigarettes and drugs from Afghanistan through Albania, invested dirty money in hotels and tourism in the United Kingdom, and also expanded into Spain, Germany, and the United States.